“Jesus fucking Christ,” I mutter. It’s dark, but it’s notthatdark, with the lights at the dock softly reflecting against the water’s surface. I can make out her soft curves, long lines, andher perky tits. “What is it with you and being topless all the time?”
She reaches for her panties. “If you’re so concerned, I won’t be topless. I’ll just be fully naked.”
“Damn it. Put your clothes back on. Right now.”
“What? Why would this bother you, if you’re not attracted to me? You’ve said you’re not.” Her voice is mocking, and I’m not looking at her. I’m looking at my boat. Rocking softly to the side. “Don’t look away, Rafe. This is nothing you haven’t seen before. Right,husband? Or are you too scared?”
“Too scared?” My eyes slide back to take her in. All of her, clad only in moonlight and the faint flicker of the lanterns, and it’s not bright enough. I can’t see as much as I want to.
But it’s still too damn much.
She’s gorgeous. Long lines, flared hips, trim waist. The curves I can’t get out of my head, and now this, the space between her thighs, bared to my view.
Everything inside me tightens at the sight. And suddenly I hate the darkness. She should be clad in light, illuminated and worshipped.
I want her so badly it makes my teeth ache.
She’s so close, and still so very far away.
“There arepeoplein the house,” I say.
“Too bad.” She takes a step backward, and then another, getting perilously close to the edge. “At least I’m wearing my rings now. Just like you asked.”
She’s just not wearing anything else.
“Do not get in that lake. So help me God, Paige?—”
“Tell me who you’re sleeping with.”
“I’m not fucking sleeping with anyone!”
“Then admit you were jealous on the boat when you saw me flirting with that guy,” she says. “Admit that you’re attracted to me and don’t want to be. Just tell me something that’s not a lie.”
I can’t do that. I stare at her instead, short nails digginginto my palms. It feels like I’m tearing apart at the seams. The fighting is a part of me she’s never going to learn about. Its ugliness has no place near her.
“I thought so.” She turns and dives cleanly off the edge of the dock, her naked body cutting through the surface.
Fuck.It’s not as deep as it seems, and I stride past the clothes she left, toward the edge. The lake is cold and deceptively calm. There are currents, especially farther from shore, and I don’t know if she’s a strong swimmer.
I’ve been diving from this dock since I was a child. I know where to go. She doesn’t, and it’s pitch black. Damn her. I’m about to dive in myself when she surfaces two meters away from the dock.
“Oh my God!” she sputters.
“Are you hurt?”
“That’s cold. Oh shit.Verycold.” She swims forward, and I step onto the stone steps that lead straight into the water.
I extend a hand. “Get up here. Right now.”
She could have hit her head. She’s reckless, and I hate her for it almost as much as I hate myself. Her hand grasps mine, and I help pull her up. Her mane of golden hair is slick and dark around her shoulders.
She’s shivering.
I’m not wearing a suit jacket. It’s too damned hot for that, so I start unbuttoning my shirt instead.
“Do not do that again. Ever,” I tell her. I’m so angry it’s hard to think straight. She could have died. Floated away into the darkness.
“What are you doing?” she asks through chattering teeth. She’s wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stay warm.
